Demi Lovato Reveals Little Sister Madison Helped Turn Her Life Around

December 11, 2013 8:41 AM PST

As Demi Lovato struggled with her addiction issues, it was the threat of not being able to see her younger sister that helped the star turn the corner towards sobriety.

The 21-year-old (who wrote her book “Staying Strong: 365 Days a Year”) and her mom, Dianna, opened up to Kit Hoover from the set of “The X Factor” on Monday about how she was able to finally get sober.

“The last time that I had an intervention, it was my management, my entire team, manager, lawyers, everyone and my parents coming into a room saying if you don’t get sober – my mom specifically said, ‘You know, we’re going to move back to Texas and you’re not going to be able to be around you’re little sister,’” Demi recalled.

The idea of not being able to see younger half-sister, Madison De La Garza, 11, who played Eva Longoria’s daughter on “Desperate Housewives,” was key to Demi finally making serious changes.

“I couldn’t allow her, at that point, to be around her little sister because of the things that we found out, that really were going on,” Dianna said of Demi, who battled with drug and alcohol abuse, an eating disorder and depression.

“I had to set an example for Madison… I had to protect her and [Demi] knew that,” the star’s mom continued. “So when I said, ‘I’m moving back to Texas,’ she knew that I finally meant it that time, and that’s when we all sat down with her and said, ‘This is it, you have to make a change or we’re all going our separate ways because if you don’t want this career, we’re not going to want it for you,’” Dianna said.

“There’s too many things to name that I learned about myself… A lot of things happened to me with bullying and just other things that I will touch on later in life when I feel ready to talk about it,” Demi told Kit. “Things that happened that I realized weren’t OK and things that I blocked out of my memory or just didn’t think they were as severe as they were.”